(TL;DR Rant) Standard based Roleplay sections and why I don’t like them.

[genghismike]

Azathoth said
Don't let that stop you.

Aye, well, the Elitists of spam have convinced me I'm just a noob and that my writing skills suck.

So now I just pester people in Spam.

[idlehands]

What's rp........?

Oh, someone already beat me to it.

No seriously, I don't RP. I want to, I just..... I'm so ashamed of my skills.

I write one liners.

Sure.

[pitwhousedtodopokemon]

HollywoodMole said
... Why?

They just shut it down without warning, since the mods needed to dedicate more time to the game that the forum was from.
It's the pokemon tcgo forum,and the mods are corrupt and never listen to the fans.

[genghismike]

idlehands said
Sure.

God damnit, Idle, back me up here.

You know you think my skills suck balls.

[idlehands]

God damnit, Idle, back me up here.

You know you think my skills suck balls.

You're a terrible ball sucker.

[genghismike]

idlehands said
You're a terrible ball sucker.

Why thank you. :D

[idlehands]

Why thank you. :D

But really, that little bit of Rp we did back on OldGuild was fun, too bad I flaked out on that game.

[Dervish]

genghismike said
God damnit, Idle, back me up here.You know you think my skills suck balls.

More of a shaft sucker, really...

[Kaga]

This wouldn't be a problem if people don't look down on Free roleplay so often.

For example, I used to be part of a Free RP on oldGuild that lasted for years across a couple installments. Being in Free, you could post one-liners if you felt that's all that was needed. But you wanna post paragraphs? Nothing's stopping you. The GM ran the RP under the idea that "Free means post whatever length you want; there are no guidelines or restrictions", which is an idea I've carried with me since whenever I poke around Free RP's. There was great variation in post length and it seemed to result in everyone being as comfortable as possible. Even I remember posting occasional one-liners followed up with three-paragraph posts, depending on what each situation called for. Theoretically, there is no max post length for Free, so really any Free roleplay could turn out like this one.

That said, I kind of have to disagree with the notion that this is what causes RP deaths. As someone who's been GMing for years and working out countless kinks in activity flow, I'd have to say that most holdups come from dropouts, confusion regarding who-should-post-when, not knowing where to take the plot after a certain point and, well, a number of things really - but hardly has it seemed like post length was responsible for any of it. Free RP's die too, you know. Even TJA, the Free RP I was talking about before, had its slow moments. Remember how I said it spanned "multiple installments"? Yeah, it died a few times, too, despite the staggered post lengths. Really the only thing that kept it going was the determination from the remaining members of the group each time to pick up the pieces, fix the damage, and keep going. And really, I think that's all that any RP needs. Almost every sudden RP death I see is caused by a minor problem causing a temporary holdup that no GM or anyone else in the group attempts to work around. A lot of RP holdups are easier to fix than many people seem to think.

[Doivid]

Azathoth said
Studies from the London School of Economics suggest that extrinsic incentives are only good for rudimentary manual tasks, and actually serve to stifle creativity and free thinking in situations where it is required.

Not sure what you're getting at here, so I'm sure you'll want to clarify.

[genghismike]

idlehands said
But really, that little bit of Rp we did back on OldGuild was fun, too bad I flaked out on that game.

I think it was issues with timing.

Also, I kinda dropped away from it as well. Being tired all of the time is an issue for me.

[genghismike]

Dervish said
More of a shaft sucker, really...

Bigshaft

[HollywoodMole]

genghismike said

Look at those... straight lines.

[Kaga]

Elendra said
Actually, something I've felt with NuGuild's RPs (at least the ones I've been in) is that if they get rolling, they seem to have a longer life. I've been in a couple that are months old and still going. I never had that on old Guild. RP Death has seemed to decrease from my personal experience. I think it's less 'problems with standards' and more 'problems with players', because I've gotten in good with some good RPers, and games with them just stick around :D

I don't think this is a newGuild thing. I saw this quite a bit on oldGuild, as well. It seems that the longer a roleplay lasts, the smaller chance it has of suddenly dying out. Lots of interest checks never become a fully realized RP, and lots of newly-started roleplays don't go very far, but the ones that do get past those first few hurtles sometimes last for months. And once a roleplay lasts for months, often time it seems like it can last for years. I guess that's because, over time, people grow more attached to the RP, more dedicated and all that.

But yeah, once you find a winning roleplay, it'll last as long as there are people willing to keep it going. That's something I've always felt holds true.

[genghismike]

HollywoodMole said
Look at those... straight lines...

it's actually quite a bit of wood there.

[Kaga]

Dervish said
A year and 4 months later, my flagship game is still going strong with a solid player list.The problem is there's too much choice for people here, so they end up biting off more than they can chew and because you have such a vast player numbers, it's hard to get to know people unless you play with them for a while. If a player trusts in their GM and gives them a chance and sticks with a game when it hits a slump, and if a GM works to keep a game moving and the players engaged, then there's absolutely no reason a game shouldn't last as long as it needs to. People just need to stop being lazy/ inattentive shits and commit to what they join. This is why I slap people upside the head with lengthy character sheets. If you're willing to go through that and work with me, you're more than likely going to stick around for a while. It means you cared enough to try and be there in the first place. Also, people get their dicks slammed in the door by one or two absent players and while they wait for that person. Know what kills a game? Waiting on someone who decided to fuck off for a month. Don't do that.

Also, all of this.

If there are people interested in a game and people willing to work past any small troubles that come up, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

As for me, I work through any activity kinks that come up - and the only time I let a roleplay die is when there's no one left who seriously wants to keep the roleplay going. Generally I publicly ask about this whenever I think that everyone might've run out of motivation - if I receive not a single "no, keep it going!"-type response within what I consider to be a decent amount of time, I just shut it down. No point in forcing an RP to keep moving when no one wants it to.

But if there are people who want it to keep going? No reason why we can't make it happen.

[Primal Conundrum]

Ya'll think this is bad? I came here from the Gaia Online roleplaying boards.

Admittedly, we might not see many RPs to completion here, but our average quality level is WAY above that of old Barton Town.

Also, I'd ask you this: does the fun of an RP come from completing it? I personally don't think so. It's like a bowl of ice cream- you're happy when you finish it, but even if you don't finish it (you have to leave, whatever) you at least enjoyed the parts you had, even if you do feel a little sad you couldn't have more. At the end of the day though, some is better than none, and it was good while it lasted.

It's the same with RP, to me. It's great, and even if it doesn't get completed I'll have a good time.

[Kaga]

Primal Conundrum said
Ya'll think this is bad? I came here from the Gaia Online roleplaying boards.Admittedly, we might not see many RPs to completion here, but our average quality level is WAY above that of old Barton Town.Also, I'd ask you this: does the fun of an RP come from completing it? I personally don't think so. It's like a bowl of ice cream- you're happy when you finish it, but even if you don't finish it (you have to leave, whatever) you at least enjoyed the parts you had, even if you do feel a little sad you couldn't have more. At the end of the day though, some is better than none, and it was good while it lasted.It's the same with RP, to me. It's great, and even if it doesn't get completed I'll have a good time.

[2] to this.

I've never managed to see a roleplay through to 100% completion, but I still have plenty of awesome RP memories. I know most RP's don't reach completion - but I can still enjoy them while they last.

[Primal Conundrum]

One of the most memorable, fun moments I had was actually in an RP that didn't last very long, and it came about while dealing ICly with a character who was godmodding.

I've tried to reboot that RP a few times, but it's one of those ones that's different from the norm enough that people generally don't end up joining :s